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Longmont to investigate warrantless search accusations at The Suites

By Karen Antonacci

Staff Writer

Posted:
06/08/2017 10:02:53 PM MDT

Updated:
06/08/2017 10:03:18 PM MDT

The Longmont City Council said the city will investigate allegations that police officers entered Longmont Housing Authority-owned The Suites without a resident's consent. (Lewis Geyer / Staff Photographer)

The Longmont City Council announced Thursday night that the city will investigate an allegation of wrongdoing by police officers after a resident of The Suites told news outlets that police entered her unit with police dogs without her consent.

"Longmont City Council is deeply concerned about the allegations of wrongdoing at The Suites. We are committed to investigating the issue to get to the truth," t he joint statement from the council issued shortly past 6 p.m. said. "While we await the findings of the investigation, we want to express our support to Longmont Public Safety staff for the difficult work they do to keep our community safe. We pledge to protect the civil rights of all our citizens."

The Suites are a low-income supportive apartment complex that is run by the Longmont Housing Authority for people who meet certain criteria.

7News reported on Monday that a Suites resident named Ray Appling was concerned about the typical 24-hour notice she received from the Longmont Housing Authority that her apartment would be inspected because there was an addition to the letter.

"Please note that we will occasionally have K-9 units with (Longmont Police Department) accompany us for purposes of training and compliance," the letter said.

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The letter did not say that residents were entitled to refuse entry to the police if they didn't have a warrant.

Suites resident Tamika McClure told the Times-Call that police did enter her apartment without consent during the May 10 search and she was asked to open a drawer on her nightstand. Police found nothing in the drawer, but McClure said she felt it was an invasion of privacy.

"It makes me pretty mad," McClure said Wednesday. "Like invasion of our privacy. Because I have people telling me if they have a search warrant, you have to let them in. But they didn't have a search warrant. We have nothing. We don't do drugs."

Longmont Deputy Chief Jeff Satur said Wednesday that the K9 officers involved in the May searches reported they did not enter any apartments without consent.

Longmont Public Safety Chief Mike Butler canceled another round of searches slated for this week at The Suites because he felt the letter sent to residents wasn't clear about the police's intentions.

News of the searches raised questions from many in the community, including Colorado House Rep. Jonathan Singer.

Singer posted a letter on Facebook that he sent to Anne Kear, the chair of the LHA board, as well as Butler, Mayor Dennis Coombs and the rest of the City Council. The letter asks who approved the searches and whether any police reports were filed as a result of the searches.

Longmont City Manager Harold Dominguez said Thursday night that city staff is following standard operating procedure in promising to investigate an allegation of police abuse.

The LPD standards sergeant will handle the investigation into the police's actions. There is no timeline for the result of the investigation and it won't touch on the LHA's actions, Dominguez said.

"They're a separate entity, a separate organization," he said.

Dominguez said that when council and staff heard the allegations from the news reports, council gave input on what kind of statement should be made and all the council members signed off on the resulting statement.

Dominguez said he had a conversation with Butler to let him know they were setting the wheels in motion for an investigation.

Coombs said he felt that the council has a duty to get to the bottom of the matter.

"We had a discussion with Harold and decided that the best thing to do is just to be honest, transparent and if there was a mistake made, acknowledge it and move on," Coombs said. "Of course, first we have to investigate and figure out if there was a mistake made ... right now, it's kind of a he-said, she-said kind of deal."

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